Shades of 1969 — red-hot Brewers adding to Cubs' misery

Panic — or resignation — is starting to set in among Cubs fans, with the slumping Cubs starting to splinter, losing seven of their last 11 games to fall eight games behind the Brewers in the NL Central heading into Friday's game against the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

Until the recent downturn, the Cubs' demise since mid-June was more a case of the Brewers surging than the Cubs faltering. The Brewers are 51-16 (.761) since May 28 and an incredible 27-4 (.871) since July 6. That's tied for the second-best 31-game stretch in baseball since divisional play began in 1969 (the 2017 Indians went 29-2 in August/September en route to a 102-60 record and division title).

The argument that the Cubs overall are still in good shape is starting to lose a little steam. But even now at 68-52, they're on a pace to finish 92-70. They still have a half-game lead over the Dodgers for the No. 1 wild-card spot. And they still have a 4 1/2-game lead over the equally slumping Mets (who have lost 13 of 15) for the final wild-card spot.

The Cubs are 23-24 since their high-water mark of 45-28 and a 6 1/2-game lead over the Brewers on June 17. Even the 2016 Cubs went 22-25 over one 47-game stretch — and that's the best Cubs team in over a century.

It remains to be seen if the Cubs can stop the bleeding. But it seems to be a foregone conclusion that they can't catch the Brewers for the division. The Brewers just seem to get hotter and hotter, with no letup on the horizon.

The NL East standings on Aug. 15, 1969

The NL East standings on Sept. 25, 1969

Their surge is reminiscent of the inglorious 1969 season, when the Mets made a similar mid-season run to contention and just when you thought they couldn't stay hot forever, they got even hotter.

That actually happened. In fact, on Aug. 15, 1969 — 56 years ago Friday — none other than the legendary Red Smith was predicting that the Mets' surge couldn't last and it was the Cardinals who would challenge the Cubs for the NL East title. The Mets, who had parlayed a 34-14 run in May, June and July to get into contention, appeared to be losing steam — 10-14 in their last 24 games to fall 9 1/2 games behind the Cubs.

Red Smith couldn't have been more wrong. From that point on, the Mets went 38-10 to pass the Cardinals and Cubs and clinch the NL East on Sept. 24, with five games to go. In one particularly disastrous stretch — from Sept. 6-16, the Mets made up 9 games on the Cubs in 10 days. The Mets went 11-1 (sweeping two doubleheaders in a three-day span — those were the days!); the Cubs went 1-9. The 2025 Cubs haven't been near that cold to allow that to happen, though they're teetering at the moment.

Legendary New York-based columnist Red Smith thought the Mets had run out of gas in mid-August of 1969. They went 38-10 after this column ran.

And the 1969 Cubs didn't have a wild-card berth to salvage the season. Their 92-70 record was the third best in the NL, a game behind the NL West-champion Braves in the 12-team National League.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell isn't panicking. "Things not going right is not what's happening," he told reporters before the Cubs game against the Pirates on Friday at Wrigley Field. "I think that's what you fall into. This is baseball that's happening. You have to be tough enough to roll with that."

We'll see about that. And it's up to Counsell in particular to coax a fast finish to the season, with a lot at stake for him and team president Jed Hoyer. It's Hoyer who awkwardly fired David Ross after the 2023 season to hire Counsell — at reportedly double Ross's salary. You can't do that and then say it's all about the players when a team falters as the Cubs have in both of Counsell's season as manager. If it's not on the manager to get this once successful team to the finish line, why did Hoyer make such a bold move to get him? That's a question that needs to be asked if this season does not end well.